LHS school building recognized for being “green”

Written by Press Staff Writer

October 22, 2009

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U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, (D-Toledo) presented Lutheran Homes Society (LHS) with LEED® Silver Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its high performance, green school building at 40 S. Wheeling Street.

The LHS building has been home to the Alternate Learning and Career Center-East since fall of 2008.

The building is the first school in Northwest Ohio to be LEED certified at any level. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council that is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance, green buildings.

In Ohio, the LHS building is only the second school to receive LEED Silver Certification and the first in the state to be designed by an Ohio architectural firm. The architect for the project was Buehrer Group Architecture & Engineering Inc. in Maumee, Ohio.

“Since LEED certification is the only green type of certification that requires third-party verification, the building had to prove its green design with stringent record-keeping and inspections and testing throughout the building process,” said Kent Buehrer, lead architect. “The synergy created in this type of process produces a building that is very livable, healthy, sustainable, and has less impact on the environment.”

To qualify for LEED certification, a concentrated effort was made during construction to conserve natural resources by using recycled materials and reusing available building materials. The primary way this was done was to carefully move a 1860s-era barn from the farm of the old LHS orphanage and make it into the school’s cafeteria.

The building also incorporates many energy-saving features including a closed-loop electrical heat pump system with a cooling tower; motion and light sensing controls to reduce lighting energy loads, nearly twice the normal insulation in roofs and walls for commercial buildings; low-flow fixtures; reduction in water usage by 40 percent, solar tube skylights, clearstory windows, and a decentralized heating system that allows for room-by-room temperature control.

The building is located on land from the old farm that served as a learning center of life’s lessons for the orphans and continues to educate youth today.

The Alternative Learning and Career Center-East is a collaboration between LHS Family & Youth Services, a LHS subsidiary ministry and the Lucas County Educational Service Center. The school offers an educational program for Lucas County students with severe learning, behavioral, and/or mental health needs.

“The school is an outstanding example of what can be achieved through the collaboration of government, the private sector and non-profit organizations,” said David Roberts, LHS president/CEO. “It also shows our commitment to social accountability in that we are dedicated to serving the community, and in an even larger sense, that we are socially accountable to the environment in which we operate.”

Lutheran Homes Society has been serving the needs of the elderly and youth since 1860. Today, more than 2,300 individuals located throughout northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan benefit from the residential and community services offered by LHS.